Telecom Technology Development Fund

The scheme is envisaged to bridge the digital divide by developing and manufacturing the state-of-the-art technologies for rural and remote areas. The objectives are, inter alia, to promote:

Technology Ownership and indigenous Manufacturing (Atmanirbhar Bharat) & reduce import and open up export opportunities;

Proliferation of next-generation Telecom technologies in Rural and Remote areas;

Creating a culture of Technology co-creation and co-innovation;

Promote the ecosystem for research, design, prototyping, development, proof of concept testing, IPR creation, field testing, security, certification, and manufacturing of telecom products, end-to-end Solutions, Usecases, Pilots, inter alia; develop and establish relevant standards to meet national requirements and enable their standardization in international standardization bodies;

Promote rural-specific communication technology application/use case development that caters to the needs of rural masses and adds value to their day-to-day activities both economic and social;

Create synergies among the Academia, Research Institutes, Start-ups, and Industry for capacity building and development of the telecom ecosystem through outreach to build rural/remote areas relevant technologies and solutions;

Bridge the gap between R&D and commercialization of products and solutions;

Enable proliferation of affordable broadband and mobile services;

Enable technology demonstration, product integration, pilots, and field trials of the products and solutions;

Enable Technological/business model innovation in solutions and services by utilizing existing infrastructure of USOF/DoT/GoI funded projects; or

Commercialize developed technologies under the scheme. USOF schemes shall incorporate necessary provisions to ensure to enable the rollout of these indigenously developed and piloted technologies developed in all its models.

The following Indian entities are only eligible for support from this fund.

Domestic Company(ies) with focus on telecom R&D, Use case development

Startups / MSMEs

Academic institutions

R&D institutions, Section 8 companies / Societies, Central & State government entities / PSUs /Autonomous Bodies/SPVs / Limited liability partnerships- with a focus on telecom research and development

Collaborative consortium of the above entities

For Pilots: The above entities may partner, inter alia, with PSUs, TSPs, Central/State Government entities, government autonomous bodies, SPVs, etc.

For Pilot application: Minimum TRL 7 is required.

Online

Application Process: (Stepwise):

Step 01: Online submission of Proposal (https://usof.gov.in/en/home)

Step 02: Screening of the applicant

Step 03: Review and due diligence by the Technical Evaluation Committee

Step 04: Review and examination by the Administrative Committee

Step 05: Final approval from Competent Authority

Step 06: Assignment to Implementation Agency

Step 07: Continuous monitoring by IA and fund disbursement

Applicant and collaborator Resume

Registration certificate of the organization/Institute

Approval Certificate from your organisation/Institute on their letterhead for submission of Open/Pilot/Chipset Proposal

Annual report of last 3 years

TAN/ PAN/ CIN of primary applicant/organization

Applicant team resume

GANTT/ PERT chart

Detailed Technical Architecture diagram

Presentation of proposal

Declaration document